War Zone

For today's poem, which is about war and remembrance, I decided on an acrostic for a change. Sharp eyed readers will spot the words it spells out.

War Zone

At times, the world seems always at war
There high above, the sound of rockets roar

The bombs are falling, breaking houses apart
Here are the dying, the ceasing beating heart
Every day, Von Clausewitz writes his art

Gone are the times of plenty, times of peace
Onward goes the battles that never cease
Into darkness, thick mud of no man’s land
Now barbed wire, there a dead man’s hand
Great war and men die like the grains of sand

Death stalks here, black knight upon a horse
Onwards riding, onwards a deadly course
Who can survive where his shadow fell
None can know the hour, none can tell

Onwards Christian soldiers, going to your death
Fighting the crusades, drawing your last breath

The padre on the front line, where to stand?
He can be a patriot, drum-beat of the band
Every war brings challenge, a lie of the land

Seek just war, to stop a madman’s genocide
Unless good soldiers act, turning the tide
New every day will be those who have died

And of the home front, awaiting the news
Now hear of the slaughter of so many Jews
Defiance on beaches, to save not to lose

In ancient of days, the sword and the spear
Now comes the time of the nuclear fear

The poppy is worn, to remember the dead
Here is the silence, and softly we tread
Each wreath laid so slowly, symbol in red

Mourning the sons at the Somme that were lost
Oh let us never forget Normandy and the cost
Reach out to reconcile, past enemy to share
New hopes for the future, in place of despair
In the sunset of death, far from the mayhem
Now sounds the trumpet, let age not condemn
Great this sacrifice, we will remember them.